The mask of the Jaded one
by Rani Winterhart
Summary: A story in which we find out that Jareth has a younger brother who is brutally scarred. Both have their eyes set on a young girl named Jade, what is her fate? Who will she decide to be her savior as she is in a endless game between these two siblings?
1. Prologue

Who the hell was he?  
Why was he haunting her, her dreams?  
Every night she went to her bed dreading what sleep might bring to her unconscious mind.  
Then every morning, she'd wake up and cry, cursing the Fates for letting him let her go.  
Who was he?  
Why did he invade her dreams?  
Why did he drag her into his world?  
Why did he make her dance?  
Why did she let him?  
Why did he love her?

She was beautiful.  
He wanted her for his own, had since the beginning when he first saw her.  
Every night, he'd capture her from her slumber.  
Every morning, he'd reluctantly let her go.  
He didn't even dare speak her name in fear that she would run away.  
He never forced her to come.  
He merely whispered a word and she came with a small uneasy smile.  
He loved dancing with her  
He loved her so much.....


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter one: in which cats can talk  
She filled the glass up before popping the pill into the mouth. She took a swig of water then the other pill. She gulped the nasty down and wiped her ruby lips. "Hopefully that'll make me sleep like a log and keep the bad dreams at bay at least for a while." She sighed, running a hand through her still shower damp tresses. She yawned, already feeling the effects of the medication.  
"Hmm, come on Gwen..." The girl named Jade murmured to a black cat with yellow eyes. It meowed at her, running for the bedroom of the small apartment. "Yeah, yeah, yeah! Get in your spot already, silly kitty~" The sleepy woman yawned, her green eyes blurry.  
No time to read tonight before these pills take effect.  
She barely had time to pull the covers up and lay her head down before her heavy lids closed for the night. Gwen looked at Jade before closing her eyes too, but not in sleep.

The tall window on the other side of the room blew open with a fierce wind, but the wind died down quickly and a man stepped silently into the moonlit room. His clothing looked like something was that was cut from the sky; stars and all.  
Gwen shot up, fur bristling on her back as she yowled and clawed the air at the intruder. A masked face turned the cursing cat, glaring. "Quiet Gwenilyn!" He ordered, his voice holding a authority to it.  
"Forgive me sire, I thought to keep up appearances. She might have woken up." The cat sat on its haunches, head bowed in shame.  
"Never mind that, you know why I come this night?"  
"Yes, but Jareth won't like it. He's already claimed her for his own." Gwen murmured, concern edging her voice.  
"Aye, but not before I did if you remember correctly." He stepped closer to the still sleeping girl, marveling at how the noise didn't wake her. Her pale face was paler in the moonlight that crept from the open window. She looked peaceful, not unlike the girl who he danced with most nights.  
Yes, Jareth had claimed her, but only after Jetamas did, but Jareth hadn't bothered with her in some time now. Jetamas had first seen her and wanted her for his own because she'd been a beauty even when she was a mere child.

"Sleep well, sweet Jade and when you wake you will be in the place of your dreams." He caressed her cheek with one gloved hand before picking her up softly into his arms.  
"What will I tell King Jareth?" The cat's eyes were wide with fright for herself and concern for Jade.  
"That you went to sleep with her and woke up to find her gone. You did well in your task from beginning to end. You will not remember this meeting Gwenilyn." He touched the cat's forehead with two fingers, still holding the sleeping girl in his arms. Gwen fell over in sleep, worry still on her face.  
"I'm sure that Jareth will not punish you too severly." He murmured as Jade stirred in his arms.

She opened her green eyes and looked up to a masked face with blurry eyes. She gasped slightly and frowned in confusion. "Damn pills, I thought that I wouldn't dream. Got to get new pills next time, thought I wouldn't you tonight." She said sleepily, reaching out to his mask.  
He shook his head, smiling under the mask. He pushed her hand back down her chest gently. "Not tonight, princess, you won't see my face yet. No matter how great your curiosity~" He touched her forehead as he did Gwen's and she went back into sleep peacefully.  
"Maybe not ever, sweetling." He said, stepping out through the window, it closing behind with a click.  
No matter how much he wanted her to see, she never could.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter two: in which girls are prisoners of their own rooms

Jade groaned as she surfaced from sleep, a sleep that lay like a blanket over her mind.  
"Stupid drug, Doctor Hartman said that I wouldn't have any chances of dreaming. What a quack." She sat up in her bed, holding her head in one hand while the other fumbled with the light on her night stand. She looked outside, predawn light filtered through her lace curtains. Deep blue was quickly turning to grey. It might rain, fun stuff. She rolled her eyes and looked around for her cat, Gwen. Usually she waited for Jade to wake before meowing for her to feed Gwen.

"Maybe she had to use the little kitty's box, doesn't sound like a bad idea." Jade yawned and stretched before swinging her legs over the edge of her bed and sliding them into her beat up feel-like-walking-on-a-cloud green slippers. She sighed as she grabbed her robe from one bedpost and slipped it on as she contemplated the dreams that came to her the night before.  
"A masked man, starlight eyes, a beautiful voice. Man, I dream some weird shit, good shit, but weird." She turned the handle of the door, but it refused to budge.  
"'The hell? Come on! Open! Jade hissed, tugging and pulling on the door. "This is _so_ not funny! Hey! Let me out!" She let go of the knob with a final jerk and looked around for a means of escape. The door shouldn't have been locked in the first place; she got rid of the locking mechanism weeks before.

Jade's eyes came to rest on the window of her room. She could climb out her window and onto the fire escape. She smiled grimly as she strode over, taking off her robe in the process, it would only get in the way. She threw open its French door-like windows and looked to the ground.  
"Ohhhh....." She moaned, almost fainting and falling out the window.  
Grotesque creatures ran here and there chaotically in what looked like a medieval kind of city. "Where the hell am I? I... I have to be dreaming! Where else would this place have come from except my stressed mind?" She questioned the air, backing away slowly from the window unsteadily. She glanced at her bare arm, giving it a good pinch. "Ow ow ow ow ow! Damn it all!" Jade yelled, glaring both at the open window and then the locked door.

Her eyes quickly scanned over the room which looked like her bedroom from her little cozy apartment. But how? She had to be dreaming! Couldn't she? She turned back to the window as despair danced across her angelic face. "Oh what am I going to do?" She had to wake up somehow, get out of this dreadful nightmare. She ran back the window, turning her eyes skyward. "Please, oh please! Someone help me..." She whispered softly as her vision blurred with tears. The sound of a key turning in a lock made her gasp and spin around with fists rose in an attempt to defend herself. Her eyes widened as the door creaked open revealing who stood there.  
Why was he here of all times and what did he want?


End file.
